


Those Old Fat Cats

by voleuse



Category: Veronica Mars - Fandom
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-12-31
Updated: 2005-12-31
Packaged: 2017-10-04 07:39:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,118
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27617
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/voleuse/pseuds/voleuse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><em>A girl puckers her mouth and considers kissing</em>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Those Old Fat Cats

**Author's Note:**

> Set after 2.09. Title, summary, and headings adapted from Galway Kinnell's _Kissing the Toad_.

_i. somewhere this dusk_

The website is supposed to go live at midnight, and Cassidy climbs through her bedroom window with a tumbler full of Starbucks and an envelope full of cash.

Mac croons and takes both. "Two of my favorite things," she remarks, and locks her bedroom door.

When she turns her attention back to Cassidy, he's smirking.

She tosses the cash on the bed and takes a long draught of her coffee. It doesn't burn the roof of her mouth, but it's close.

When she's had her recommended dosage, she sets the cup down. "Don't be smug," she says. "I'm the smug one."

She sits in front of her computer and enters three levels of passwords. Cassidy leans against the back of her chair.

"Then who am I?" he murmurs, and she imagines she can feel him speak, almost.

She looks over her shoulder, and echoes his earlier smirk perfectly. "You're the cute one."

_ii. the toad a boy_

She's having lunch with Veronica, and Cassidy passes by their table, trailing after Dick and Logan.

Mac doesn't expect him to acknowledge her, and she has a disparaging remark all prepared for Veronica's approval.

But instead of giving her the lukewarm shoulder, Cassidy stops beside their table. "Hey," he says, and he looks right at her and smiles.

"Hey," she replies, and ignores Veronica's look. "What's up?"

Cassidy shrugs. "Economics next period. You?"

Before she can answer, though, Dick arrives, slings his arm around Cassidy's shoulders. "My, my," he crows. "Have you finally become a man?"

Mac looks away, and Cassidy sputters.

"Dick," Veronica chimes in, enunciating each letter clearly. "Elsewhere?"

For a second, Dick looks like he might go frat boy on them. Then, he collects himself and sketches a bow. "Your wisdom, Veronica, is both succinct and clarifying."

Veronica raises an eyebrow. "Do you even know what those words mean?"

Cassidy shrugs off Dick's arm. "Come on." He smiles at Mac again, and then they're off.

"Shut up," Mac says, not even looking at Veronica. "He's nice."

"Nice." Veronica points a carrot stick at her. "You betcha."

_iii. with both hands, rough_

She's just finished her fifth round of _Mortal Kombat_, and it's getting too easy to win as Sonya Blade.

"You seem like the type to rip out someone's heart," Cassidy says from behind her.

Mac glances over her shoulder, then puts another token into the game. Selects Scorpion, this time, and reaches over, snags the sleeve of Cassidy's T-shirt.

He leans against the console, and his hand glances against hers on the joystick.

She smiles. "Are you in or are you out?"

He holds up a token. "So in."

When he selects Sonya, she can't hold back her laugh.

He doesn't look embarrassed at all.

_iv. sprawling on Mediterranean beaches_

Veronica invites her over to Duncan's suite, to watch the latest in Brad Pitt.

While Duncan pays for the pizza at the door, Veronica flings herself across the couch, taps Mac on the shoulder as she sits on the floor.

"Normally I'm not into the Brad," she confesses.

Mac nods. "So very not usual."

"But there's just something about him," Duncan says, setting the pizza on the coffee table. "Maybe it's the way Angelina Jolie's draped over him."

"Maybe," Mac agrees, and hits pause on the DVD player so they can eat.

There's the usual divvying up of parmesan and pepper, and Veronica hoards her single packet of ranch dressing.

They've consumed half the pizza already when the door swings open, and Kendall Casablancas struts in. "Hello, children," she says.

Veronica rolls her eyes, and Duncan looks uncomfortable. "Logan's not back yet," he tells her.

"I can wait," she says, and sways across the room, and into Logan's bedroom. The door clicks shut, and they let out a collective breath.

"_She's_ Cassidy's stepmom?" Mac asks. "Yikes."

"Tell me about it," Veronica replies, then looks sharply at Mac. "Cassidy, huh?"

Mac settles against the sofa, hits _play_ on the remote control.

"Shut up," she says, and Veronica throws a peppercini at head.

_v. pisses, quakes, tries_

Before Intermediate French starts, Dick jumps onto Mac's desk, gyrates his hips, and raps the lyrics to "Lady Marmalade."

Mac doesn't push him off her desk. She doesn't even bother to roll her eyes.

The next day, however, all the women of the senior class receive a jpeg of Dick, his head expertly pasted onto the body of that guy from _Napoleon Dynamite_. Also attached to the e-mail are the passwords to Dick's MySpace account, and a few specific measurements previously left to rumor.

That afternoon, Cassidy raises his eyebrows at her from the other side of the library.

She shrugs, turns her palms upward.

He grins, and gives her a thumbs-up.

_vi. the girl who might kiss it_

"Home Ec is so the wave of the distant-and-best-forgotten past," Mac complains.

Veronica hands her a pair of oven mitts. "See if the cookies are golden brown yet."

Mac snorts, but peers into the oven, flinching away at the wave of heat. "This is very Martha Stewart of you, Veronica."

"What can I say?" Veronica rinses out the mixing bowl in the sink. "I love me some snicker doodles."

Mac emerges from the depths with a tray of cookies, which she drops on the stove. "This is what Mrs. Fields is for."

"Tell that to Mrs. Jackson. Or, replicate the experiment and pass the class." Veronica smirks. "You know. Whatever works."

Mac prises a cookie off the sheet, tosses it back and forth in her hands, and bites in. "Hot!"

"Duh." Veronica leans a hip against the counter, tilts her head. "So."

Mac drops the cookie back onto the sheet to cool. "So." She licks a grain of sugar off her thumb.

"All right, you dragged it out of me." Veronica lets out a heavy sigh. "Cassidy, AKA Beaver?"

"Yeah?" Mac crosses her arms.

"You, AKA evasive," Veronica says. "Dish. Now."

Mac shrugs, hops onto the counter. "I don't know."

"But--" Veronica drags the word out.

"But," Mac says, "there might be, you know, thoughts in that direction. If I was that lame."

"Lame. Right." Veronica slugs her on the shoulder. "Glad we had this talk."

Mac snatches her cookie up again, and munches.

_vii. make its smile wider_

The next afternoon, Cassidy catches her by her locker.

"So," he greets her.

She laughs. "So."

"I was thinking," he continues, "we could talk more about the website. Over coffee or something."

"Or something." Mac shuts her locker, leans her shoulder against the door. "Is that a euphemism?"

He laughs. "Maybe."

"Then maybe," she says, "we could."

"Are you free tonight?"

"Maybe," she repeats.

Cassidy laughs again, and she grins.


End file.
